Friday, August 21, 2015

I'm hooked on the show Dexter. Have you ever watched it? It's sick, and twisted. I always watch it before bed, which is probably a bad idea. It took a season to get Travis into it. He doesn't like CSI type shows as much as I do. Now he's hooked.

I had a first year student tell me that her mother told her the night before that she has breast cancer. I responded with, "That's not an easy thing to hear about. If you need to leave the room for any reason while I'm in lecture please feel free to." It's hard enough to leave to go to college, get out on your own for the 1st time, and then hear that. At that age they take burdens on their shoulder like they solely own it.

Isaak has been a singer lately. The boy has never been into singing. Lately he sings and sings. It was getting on my nerves last night. I was getting ready to yell out, "Isaak...can you stop it!" Then I stopped myself and yelled you, "Isaak.." He said, "What?" I said, "I love your singing voice." I should get mad at someone for singing. That's just silly on my part. It was that spot in the day when I was just feeling done.

I won a membership to the zoo for the year. We went this last weekend. Our zoo has been rated #1 in the world, so it's good that we go there. Right? They are in the middle of building a whole new section. You really can't get through it all in 1 day that's how much there is to see. I took a lot of pictures, but will get to that this weekend, or next week. I'll give you a tour of our zoo as we go.

We parked, and didn't pay attention to where we parked. I was honking in the air trying to find our car. We finally found it.

My nephew Emerson had surgery this week. He has a tethered spinal cord. The spinal cord is attached to other things when it shouldn't be. The doctors freed it up as much as they could. He had a lot of nerves hitting it. Little man is in a lot of pain. He has to lay down on his back for 2 days. I just feel for him. :(

Thursday, August 20, 2015

I just realized that I never put up pictures of Hummel Day Camp's last day.

The bully on the bus never bothered the boys again. He doesn't go to the boy's school, so we're good with that.

Always on the last day they have the parents out, and the kids do skits, songs, and just have fun.

I could tell Isaak was having a blast!

Mica was too far away to get a good photo of.

My nephew Edison was right by my side. I'm sure my sister loved that I was luring him in to play with me by sticking out my own tongue. Then he started doing it to.

Their main camp song:

Afterwards everyone scurries to their camp site to get an award. I went to Isaak's, Travis went to Mica's, then we met up afterwards.

Isaak got The Happy Camper Award. Supposedly he made his leaders the most happy because he was always happy. It was so funny because he was such a grump each day after camp. He was probably wore out.

Mica got the Chalk it Up Award. They each draw pictures in the dirt. I guess Mica's became their camps logo.

Both boys almost left their lunch bags at the camp. We found one in
the lost and found, and Mica had to go back to his campsite to get his. He insisted that I had it. I insisted that I gave it back to him because it wasn't my job to hold his bag. I had enough things in my hands.

I'm really glad they did this camp at this time. It was one week before
school started, and it got the boys prepared for more of a school
schedule. In fact they were so wore out that they went to bed at 7:30
some nights.

My husband's work is busy during the lunch hour. He either has to have lunch super early (10:30), or on the later side (1:30). I got some Clif Bars for him the first week of his job. After that I was on a search for a recipe to make my own. They are super easy to make! I know they don't cost over a $1 for 1 bar.

I warmed up the peanut butter and the honey a bit to make it easier to stir. I did add Pumpkin Seeds, Chia Seeds and Mini Chocolate Chips to ours. You just stir everything together. The extras really are just extras. You don't have to add them, or you can. There is no baking required. If you are adding chocolate chips put them in last to give the honey and nut butter a chance to cool, so they don't melt. Put freezer paper down in a 9x9 pan, or make a double batch if you are using a 9x12 pan. Put the mixture in. I kept wetting my finger tips to help pat it down in the pan. The mixture is sticky like rice crispy treat would be. Set the pan in the refrigerator until they have cooled a bit. Cut them into bars, and eat. They ended up being really good. The great thing is that you can make them different each and every time.

Mica, Travis and I all really liked them. Isaak's not a fan of any dried fruit, and wouldn't give them much of a chance.

I found a new art medium I love. It's 6x12 Adhesive Vinyl Sheets made by Angel Crafts.I've been wanting to try vinyl sheets, but never really knew where to get them. I love this set because of the color variety. They send 35 sheets in a pack + 5 free sheets.

I debated what to do with the vinyl. I thought about making a stencil for a trunk I have. The motivation just wasn't there for that project right now. I've been in more of a painting mood lately.

I decided to make a sea turtle with a sandcastle coming out of it's shell. I'm not 100% sure I'm done just yet. I think I may want to add baby turtles in the background. Any dark spots you see on the turtle is cut out vinyl. It stuck well. I was able to do slight paint washes over the spots, which I happened to love.

I also used:

Paper punches, which may in the future be vinyl punches for me

Tooth Picks cut down

Rubber Spanish moss

Acrylic Paint

Matte Medium

Pumice Medium

Sand

Black Sharpie

I am so happy with how the vinyl on the turtle just pops! It was so easy to cut. I used a small sewing scissors to cut it. I loved how it stuck it's self to the surface. I'm so used to putting a clear paint medium down to hold stuff down. I didn't have to do that. It saved time because I didn't have to wait for anything to dry.

It's $16.95 for the set of 40 vinyl sheets. I love all the colors they sent. You can use this for other things like Home Decor, Signs, Letters, Banners, Striping, Decals, Window Graphics, Tiles, and so much more!

What would you use this vinyl for? Any ideas?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

I simply love the taste of vanilla! I always add more extract than recipes call for. Recently I got Organically Grown Vanilla Bean Powder to review.

It comes in a 4.23 ounce bag:

I've used a lot already, but here's a look inside the bag:

What is Ground Vanilla Bean Used For?

Ground Vanilla Bean is most used for culinary purposes, it gives desserts and baking goods rich and creamy flavor. I plan on using it in fall breads. I often make pumpkin and banana bread to stock in the deep freezer during the fall. It can be used as a substitute for vanilla extract in many recipes.

Vanilla is perfect to enrich the taste of coffee by adding a teaspoon to the ground coffee before brewing.

It's used a lot in DIY gifts and Christmas presents.

It can be used in home-made bug repellents against mosquitoes.

Often
used in cosmetics due to its pleasant scent and antioxidant contents
that help fight off free radicals. Vanilla possesses anti-inflammatory
properties that help to soothe inflamed areas of the skin.

Smelling it in is wonderful. I have allergies, and can barely smell. I could smell it every time I've used it.

So far I've only used it in green smoothies. I know many people are turned off by the green. I promise it didn't taste like spinach. It tasted like mango, banana, and vanilla.

Smoothies for a family of 4:

1 cup of spinach leaves

1 teaspoon of green superfood powder

A scoop of Vanilla Bean Powder

1 cup of frozen mango pieces

2 bananas

1 cup of ice

Mango juice (amount depends on how thick you like it)

Benefits of Sunny Day Organics' Ground Vanilla Bean:

Vanilla
Bean is high in potassium. Potassium is important for cell and body fluids that help
control blood pressure and hear rate.

Vanilla
Bean is high in iron. Iron is important for red blood
cell production.

Vanilla
Bean is high in manganese and
copper. Manganese and copper are co-factors for the antioxidant
enzyme.

According to USDA, vanilla bean is in the top 10 antioxidant foods.

Antibacterial properties that help reduce skin infections and encourage wound healing. It can reduce bacteria that cause acne. With Mica and Isaak's skin issues I'm totally excited about this product!

It has relaxing properties.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

My SA: Kentucky Fried Chicken are hoping the new ads will polarize viewers. The CEO of KFC's parent company Yum! Brands Greg Creed said that one out of five people hated the Hammond ad campaign.
But he added that it was great news "because at least now they have an
opinion. They're actually talking about KFC, and you can market to love
and hate; you cannot market to indifference."

I'm one of those that found that last Colonel to be creepy. Now they are switching him up again. Norm Macdonald — the veteran of Saturday Night Live, and a Last Comic Standing judge is taking over to be the next Colonel.

We hardly get KFC, but a few weeks ago we decided to. We needed a quick dinner. Isaak said, "This grosses me out!" What was it that grossed him out? The bone on the chicken. I know that chicken on the bone is more flavorful. We make almost every meal at our house. Often times I don't have the time to make chicken dishes with the bone, it's easier for the kids to eat chicken without the bone, we don't empty out our trash a whole lot because we keep a compost pile, so the bones stink up our trash. I think it was the visual that disturbed Isaak. I'm thinking Isaak should eat more chicken on the bone, so he doesn't always think chicken is boneless every time.

Do you eat boneless skinless chicken, or are you a chicken on the bone person?

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

My husband's family came from Germany to Hermann, Missouri. It's a town that's known for their grapes. There are tons of wineries. They also have a lot of antique shops. We went on a tour through some of their most historical houses.

You can't touch the walls on the tour because they are painted with a milk based paint. The paint gets spotted up easily. There is no touch up; the whole wall has to be repainted. You can imagine it was hard being my little boys during the tour. They did pretty well though.

When the German's moved their they were surrounded by other towns that were pro slavery. The German's were not. They were free thinkers that didn't typically believe in organized religion, but were super nice!

They farmed every inch of their land, grew their own flax for making fabric because they didn't want to buy cotton (promoting slaves).

They were poor, but became wealthy when they learned that grapes grew well there.

Disclaimer

The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

I am not compensated to provide opinions on a variety of topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are my own. If I claim to show knowledge of certain topic or product I will only endorse products or services that I feel, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement.

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